Readers' comments

while Turkey is growing about% 8 , and the city of istanbul about the same size, neither UEFA nor the IOC can see the opportunities in the country.... sure Turkey will be the 3rd or 4rd in europe after germany and russia in near future but still they ignore the power of the country..

Istanbul has finally started receiving credits that it deserves. Just look at the world map and you will see what I am talking about. As Napoleon once pointed out: "If the world was a single country, Istanbul would be the capital of it"

Proud of Istanbul my birth place. When I left Turkey in 1985 to go to school in the USA, her economy ranked 67th in the world, it now ranks 14! Turkey would be the 5th largest economy in EU (if she was admitted) after Germany, France, UK and Italy, and the 2nd healthiest in Europe after Germany. In this pace she will take over the 4th place from Italy in less than a decade. Euro watch out Lira is coming to buy your member country bailout debt :)

@blackskirt Istanbul's population is officialy 12.5 millions. However, there are Turkish citizens who are not registered in Istanbul, registered in some other cities instead but still live in Istanbul such as students and part-time workers. If you take this into account, Istanbul's population is estimated around 15 millions which is more than most of European countries' population.

I am very pleased that Rio has the 10th position. The job of finance secretary Joaquim Levy was essential for this achievement. Never before in the history of this state a government took seriously the health of the public accounts.

The population of Istanbul is almost 12.5 millions and also home for illegal 75,000 Armenians, 44,000 Ukrainians and Russians and 79,000 Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan,Iranians and Arabs. The city is bustling with new arrival from rural areas everyday however all the restaurants pastry shops and coffee shops busy with her citizens.

Apparently, certain regions perform better than others. It would be nice if Economist can make some deeper and broader analysis to explain how and why. After all, we can go to bloomberg for raw data and to wsj for entertainment.

Sweden grew with over 6 % this quarter and almost all that growth was in Stockholm, still Stockholm was ranked as one of the lowest cities, much worse than most of US cities, still US has almost no growth.

It is good to see Lima third place. It is a city with a very interesting historical downtown (around the Plaza de Armas I think, including a nearby china town), and pretty interesting suburbs (Miraflorez with the cliffs and beaches, Pueblo Libre with the archeology museum, Barranco with the cliffs and beaches).

However, there is quite a bit of overpopulation and poverty too, so it is good to see that progress may be taking place, especially after 15 years, which included conflict, political instability, economic ups and downs, and then seeming growth without trickle down prosperity.

Not suprised by Istanbul - at least three different groups of people over the past year commented favorably on the city, culture, history, etc.